According to a study by mortgage company Credit Foncier based on European Union statistics, while 65% of people are home owners in Britain, 73% are in Italy, 79% in Spain and 84% in Poland, with France having the same number as the UK and Germany having less at just 54%.

The study is based on eight European countries that make up 75% of Europe’s population and also shows that Dutch people spend more of their income on property at 29.4% while British people spend 25.1%, the French 18.2% and Italians 17.1%.

But the Dutch pay less for their homes as prices fell between 2006 and 2015 while they increased by just 2% over this period in France. But buyers in the UK have seen prices rise by 30% over the same period while prices in Germany increased by 30%.

However, in France buyers get more for their money. On average homes are 102 metres squared in France compared to 85 in Poland and just 76 in the UK which has overall the smallest homes in Europe in terms of floor space. The biggest homes are in the Netherlands at 119 square meters and Portugal at 112....continue reading "Renting vs buying a home: European statistics"